Biden digs in his heels amid rising pressure to drop out of US presidential race

Despite growing pressure from top Democrats on him to drop his re-election bid, US President Joe Biden has made it clear that he is “one thousand per cent” staying in the presidential race.

However, in response to questions from journalists over the last few weeks, the embattled Democratic president has given some clues as to what could make him step aside — especially as the calls from his own party to end his candidacy continue unabated.

Here are the things Biden has cited — some serious, others not — that would make him reconsider his run:

Divine intervention

It was a defiant answer that indicated Biden had no intention whatsoever of dropping out.

During an ABC News interview that marked the first major test of his fitness for office, anchor George Stephanopoulos asked the 81-year-old Biden whether he had convinced himself that only he could defeat his Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

“I have convinced myself of two things,” Biden said. “I'm the most qualified person to beat him, and I know how to get things done.” Stephanopoulos pressed a little further: “If you can be convinced that you cannot defeat Donald Trump, will you stand down?”

“It depends,” Biden responded. “I mean, if the Lord Almighty comes out and tells me that, I might do that.”

Cold, hard data

No politician ever wants to lose — and it seems Biden would be willing to exit if he had numerical proof that that's what would happen.

In a news conference at the close of the NATO summit in Washington last week, Biden was asked whether he would step aside if aides showed him that Vice President Kamala Harris would be a stronger opponent than he would be against Trump.

Biden's initial response was “no,” but then he elaborated.

“Unless they came back and said, there's no way you can win.' Me,” he said. “No one is saying that. No poll says that.”

The limited polling available suggests a competitive race with several months before the election. Several polls of voters give Trump a slight advantage, while others show neither candidate with an advantage.

A fateful accident Biden wasn't directly asked the hypothetical, but he threw in a new scenario anyway.

Resolute answers

As Speedy Morman, a host on the entertainment network Complex, was wrapping up his interview with Biden last week in Detroit, he had one more closing question for the president: “We will 1,000 per cent — in your words — see you on the ballot this November?” Quipped Biden: “Unless I get hit by a train, yeah.” Morman responded: “Let's hope that doesn't happen, for your safety's concern.”

A not-yet-diagnosed medical ailment Biden spoke with BET journalist Ed Gordon for an interview set to air Wednesday night. During the conversation, Gordon asked Biden if there were any factors that would make him re-evaluate his candidacy.

He didn't repeat the other reasons that he had previously listed — but rather surfaced a new one.

“If I had some medical condition that emerged,” Biden told Gordon. “If doctors came to me and said, you got this problem, that problem.'" The health of Biden, the oldest person to be US president, has been scrutinised well before his catastrophic debate performance.

Biden tests positive for COVID

After his latest physical in February, presidential doctor Kevin O'Connor said Biden “remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency." A neurological exam, taken more than a month prior, showed no signs of a stroke, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease, according to O'Connor. The physician also said a cognitive exam was unnecessary.

Biden tested positive for the coronavirus Wednesday while trying to shore up support among disenchanted voters key to his reelection chances. The diagnosis prompted him to cancel a meeting with members of a Latino civil rights organisation in the battleground state of Nevada.

Amplified calls to quit presidential race

Meanwhile California Representative Adam Schiff has become the highest-profile Democrat to call for Biden to drop his re-election bid, even as the party pushed ahead with plans for a virtual vote to formally make Biden its nominee in the first week of August.

The move to schedule the roll call, which would come weeks before the Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago on August 19, follows nearly 20 Democratic members of Congress calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race in the wake of his dismal debate performance against Republican former President Donald Trump last month.

Late in the evening on Wednesday, ABC News reported new details about Biden's private meeting over the weekend with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at his beach home in Delaware. It said Schumer told the president it would be "better for the Democratic party, and better for the country if he were to bow out.”

A Schumer spokesperson called the report "idle speculation. Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.” Among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll — sharply undercutting Biden's post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him even if some “big names” are turning on him.

(With inputs from agencies)